Removing bracelets?

Every time I try and remove a bracelet with my (bergeon-like) tool, I have to hold the watch and bracelet tense in one-hand while I work on the pins. If I don't hold the bracelet tense, as soon as I push back one of the pins, the other pops back into place. Because I'm tensing the bracelet, it sometimes results in bent-pins by the time I get them out. :oops:

The few times I've done this, I've also ended up scratching the heck out of the lug area! I'd like to try a few straps on my Omegas (Aqua Terra and SMP), but I'm worried about the same thing happening again!

Re: Removing bracelets?

Originally Posted by ncb

Every time I try and remove a bracelet with my (bergeon-like) tool, I have to hold the watch and bracelet tense in one-hand while I work on the pins. If I don't hold the bracelet tense, as soon as I push back one of the pins, the other pops back into place. Because I'm tensing the bracelet, it sometimes results in bent-pins by the time I get them out. :oops:

The few times I've done this, I've also ended up scratching the heck out of the lug area! I'd like to try a few straps on my Omegas (Aqua Terra and SMP), but I'm worried about the same thing happening again!

Would help if you had the head vice that would allow you some freedom with your hands.

assuming your using only your fingers?? then with the thumb and finger apply a tiny bit of pressure when the pin is depressed, holding that inplace , depressed the other side VOILA, bracelet will seperate from the head.

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf"

Re: Removing bracelets?

Mask off the lugs (top and bottom) with vinyl electrical tape before you start working on the spring bars. And I use double-shoulder spring bars, because they're so much easier to use! Single-shoulder or shoulderless bars are much harder to remove with a fork tool, and when you try to remove the spring bar you'll likely mar the internal surface of the lug (at least!).

The double-shoulder spring bars have two "rings" or shoulders on each end. One stops the spring bar from going too far into the lug hole, while the other hides inside the opening in the strap or bracelet until you need to get to it to remove the spring bar. The remover fork goes between the paired rings, so the tool never touches the lug.

If you have trouble doing all this with only two hands, you could get a small bar clamp, with vinyl pads, to hold the watch to some larger flat surface. Irwin's mini-clamps will do the trick. Just don't clamp it too hard!

The Bergeon spring bar tools are definitely the best -- the small fork tip is great on the two tools that permit changing between the fork/tip/split-spade ends. "Bergeon-like" isn't even close. Given what you've spent on watches, why become a cheapskate when it comes down to buying the simplest tool for this common event? Get the Bergeon, and get several replacement tips. Pictured below, in order, are the two spring bar tools made for straps, and one really cool bracelet tool.

Bergeon's best spring bar tool is the $32 Model 6111 (which they don't make, but which is made in Switzerland and also sold nameless, for about $24). They also make the $15 Model 6767F, which is very similar. The 6111 is the one I use, but I have both. For bracelets specifically, you can also find the really cool, $144 Model 6825 pliers, which looks like a drawing compass with two tips, made for those bracelet end-pieces with two visible notches underneath for accessing the spring bar. This is needed for those bracelets where the end-piece is one solid machined piece, fitting the case extremely closely, and thereby not allowing you to get one spring bar tip in at a time. I'm not sure how this would work with a leather strap, which would require compressing the strap at two ends; seems to me that it's not really good for anything other than a bracelet.

Re: Removing bracelets?

Thanks for the suggestions and tips guys. The spring bar tool I have resembles the second shown - likely a cheaper copy no doubt. Next strap purchase I'm definitely getting one of the proper Bergeon tools.

I took the advice and a little patience, and took to my Omega Aqua Terra and Citizen Chronomaster. Both of them sported the "double springbars" that you mention - I think it may be the first time I've seen (or at least noticed) "doubles" before.

As a result, both the AT and Chronomaster are now sporting new straps. The AT is wearing a black Di-Modell (one of the waterproof ones - very thick w/alligator grain). The Chronomaster is wearing a black sailcloth strap w/white stiching.

The AT now has a very macho look that it didn't have before, and the Chronomaster - which was meant to be my ultimate dress watch, now looks like something out of a Lacoste catalogue.